After SEC, PSE penalizes Liberty Telecoms

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) has penalized Liberty Telecoms Holdings Incorporated for failing to disclose the reassignment of frequencies to the investing public.

In a notice on its website, the PSE said it imposed a penalty on Liberty Telecoms for non-disclosure of the reassignment of frequencies from its unit, Tori Spectrum Telecom Incorporated, to Bell Telecommunication Philippines Incorporated, and its subsequent approval by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).

It said Liberty Telecoms also failed to disclose the reassignment of said frequencies in the annual and quarterly reports filed with the PSE.

The PSE also penalized the company for delayed disclosure of the letter from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding the tender offer to Liberty Telecom’s minority shareholders.

“Pursuant to Section 4 of Penalties and Fines on Publication of Penalties Assessed under the Listing and Disclosure Rules of the Exchange, please be informed that the Exchange has imposed on the listed company the corresponding penalties for failure to comply with the requirements under the Revised Disclosure Rules,” PSE said.

The local bourse, however, did not disclose the total amount of the fine it had imposed on the company.

Just last month, the SEC slapped Liberty Telecoms with a P346,000-fine for failing to disclose the reassignment of its frequencies.

SEC said the company failed to timely disclose the reassignment of the 723-738/778-793 megahertz and 2555-2595 MHz from Tori Spectrum Telecom to Bell Telecommunications which the NTC approved on March 17, 2015.

SEC said as this was only the first offense committed by Liberty Telecoms, the company received a basic fine of P100,000 plus P500 a day for 492 days of continuing violation.

“The imposition of the foregoing penalties shall be without prejudice to the imposition of other penalties that may be imposed due to the deficiencies/deviations that will be noted in the company’s financial statements based on the Securities Regulation Code Rule 68, as amended,” SEC said.

Liberty Telecoms – now owned by PLDT Incorporated and Globe Telecom Incorporated after they acquired parent firm Vega Telecom from San Miguel Corporation – is now in the process of delisting from the stock exchange after undertaking a tender offer.

The company proposed to be delisted from the bourse on November 21. – Rappler.com